As explained in the above-linked article, never make sweet love to a stock. For as unjust ( pardon the melodrama! ) as AAPL under $500, let alone $600 or $700 feels, have some respect for the market's power. Sentiment and the trend is not your friend right now.

Don't expect Apple to do anything about the stock's sharp fall. Do you think Steve Jobs would have cared or Tim Cook currently cares about what groupthink sentiment is doing to AAPL? Do you think either of these guys have time for that tripe? No way. And if Investor Relations starts whining, Cook would say the same thing Jobs likely would have: I don't give a damn about the stock; I've got a company to run! .

But scan the Twitterverse. You'll find a considerable number of people who want a special or increased dividend. Others expect a show of force via a massive stock buyback to prop up shares. We even have people saying Apple should issue a statement rebuking The Wall Street Journal report about alleged "weak demand" for iPhone 5 . Others demand an earnings pre-announcement.

Would any of this fit with the Apple we know and make sweet love to?

This is what I don't understand. So many of us put so much faith in the Apple mystique. We blather endlessly about how the way Apple swings its member sets it apart from mere mortals. Yet, when things get ugly, some of us call for drastic action. That's got to give the bears one giant belly laugh.

Most everything else is noise until Apple reports. And, even after we get holiday quarter results, there's no telling what the stock will do. I realize that's unsettling, but, at the end of the day, if you're in the stock, all you can reasonably do is what's best for you and your family. Hopefully, putting it that way brings some clarity to thought.